US Hunting (‘Duck’) Permit stamps are a very, very popular collecting area; the stamps are nice and the proceeds go to maintaining wildlife areas. Complete, mint collections typically sell $1100-$1800 range but I am not aware of a larger number of ‘investors’ than in other areas of US stamps. Here is my collection
https://stampsmarter.org/learning/album_duck_home.html
A recent eBay sale
https://www.ebay.com/itm/US-DUCK-Stamp-Collection-RW1-RW50-1934-83-F-VF-MNH-or-MH-/363098552529
Don
"What am I missing in this picture?"
I do not avidly collect them, but being a collector of US BOB, I do keep any I happen to 'stumble' across.
I was never that impressed by the artwork as the avid collector seemed to be.
And I never really understood the attraction many have...nor the high value put on them.
To each his own.
"And I never really understood the attraction many have...nor the high value put on them."
Some of the artwork (the original art from which the stamps are copied) is exquisite, and the competition for the honor of having the artwork chosen each year is quite intense. I agree that most of these stamps aren't anything overly amazing, but there is definitely a subculture of hunting collectors who pay stupid money for hunting/fishing related items. Empty shotgun shell boxes, old licenses (paper, pinback buttons, hatpins), and other seemingly worthless crap goes for waaay more than you would expect.
And then there's the guns....... I've seen sales in the thousands, sometimes tens of thousands for old guns. Hunters (especially "gentleman" hunters who can swing month-long trips chasing big game) have deep pockets.
Of course, those guys don't often see the value in our stamps, either....
"especially "gentleman" hunters"
I disagree with being critical of what other folks collect. There are a lot of stamps and areas of philately that do not intertest me but I see no reason I should bad mouth them or the material. In my opinion our hobby cannot afford casting stones towards what others collect.
I also disagree with being critical of what others chose to eat. Hunters typically eat what the shoot and a ducks life is no different than a chicken that was killed to go into dog food or the KFC bucket. A deer is no different than a cow that gave its life for a steak or a burger. If a person chooses to be vegetarian, that is great and I would never be critical of their choice.
Don
" It is the age where they will rightly be viewed as callous killers of the last remaining wildlife."
"I disagree with being critical of what other folks collect."
"Ian, you have no foxes left in Britain"
Strange. I remember reading somewhere that the last fox was shot in Britain some time in the 18th century. Definitely I did not see any in Scotland but I saw lots of really small rabbits on the hills in the pastures. They were everywhere. Things must have changed since I last visited in the 18th century !! :-) :-)
Cougar:- It was wolves that "disappeared" not foxes.
Sheepshanks is right the urban foxes are a pest. However the country foxes which are many are some of the most beautiful animals.
"Have you ever seen the damage a herd of deer can do? "
"Have you ever seen a deer or fawn die from starvation because of insufficient herd management?"
" Wildlife management will not change that."
I remember a time when you drove on the Autobahn and your car window would have hundreds of insects on it. Now 300 km and not one. The reason (my view) Insecticides and anti-weed chemicals. The food chain is therefore brocken at its base. Take a look at the countryside where you live, how did it look when you were a child. There were probably more trees, weeds, flowers, and a lot of animals. Now we need this space for fields of wheat, corn and other food. Unfortunaly most of the corn and wheat is not used for human consumption. It is used as feed for farm animals and bio gas. The occeans are filled with micro plastic just like our lakes and rivers, chewing gum even contains plastic ( look it up). The meat we eat probably has more prescription drugs in it than a pharmacy, it´s all about the profit and the investors.
Back in the 80´s Wildlife managment here in Germany restocked the Rhein with Atlantic Salmon frey. This worked very well, and Salmon started to return to the Rhein. The Rhein has alot of ships travelling on it that travel through all parts of Europe and even the world. When they pump out their balast water they bring Invasive species like the Round goby that eats almost everything it gets. So were does that leave the Salmon.
The Asian Bark Beetle was introduced here by way of crates that came from Asia: these have desimated huge portions of our forests. The south American rain forest is burning away and being destroyed, the ice shields are melting, We are changing our world, for the worst, yes, but no matter what we do we can´t change it. We are a predators and always will be. We constantly make our lifes more comfotable, not necessarily better.
I´m not saying we should kill animals for the pleasure of the trophy, I hate people that do that. What I´m trying to say we should not intefere with a natural process. You and I might not like it. Even if thousands or millions of people change their way of living it won´t stop the prosses. Everyone wants to feed his/her family, own the most modern iphone and drive around in their cars. We need more and more space for fields and life-stock. So why bother shooting a couple of deer out of a herd because they don´t have enough to eat. If i´m not mistaken I believe that the polar bear is already crossbreeding with grizzlys, evolving into a new species.
"Not only that but is one childs life worth it to allow nature to run riot?"
"Was I ever critical of that?..."
"Before I get completley off topic. Are hunting "stamps" not a sort of revenue stamp?"
Our "interference" in the natural order is more hazardous in terms of habitat destruction than it is a matter of decimation of herd numbers through hunting. With the exceptions of the dodo, the passenger pigeon, and very nearly the American bison, we don't generally kill off an entire species that way. Its through deforestation, water usage, human overpopulation, and pollution that we have the most effect on the flora and fauna around us.
"Our "interference" in the natural order is more hazardous in terms of habitat destruction than it is a matter of decimation of herd numbers through hunting."
My final words:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPtSxZchA34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0kSYH-L-YQ
We're way off topic for Duck Stamps, but what the heck. I've been living on the same land for almost 40 years. I have about 5 acres and most of it is left as nature intends. The things I never see any more are amphibians. I can remember having to be very careful mowing the lawn because of toads, frogs and snakes. They have almost totally disappeared now, even in the fields and wet areas. NOT GOOD FOR THE FOOD CHAIN!! I can remember reading somewhere that when the amphibians disappear it is a very bad sign, I don't even get the chorus of spring peepers anymore. They're twinning highways in my area, trees come down and wetlands get filled in. My rant for the day!!
By the way, I collect duck stamps. I stop at #75 (not sure why) and am only missing #73. I don't care if they are mint or used and I find the signed ones have more character. I noticed that the prices for the newer ones are almost higher than the older ones.
Harvey, you're dead on with that point. Amphibians are considered an indicator species, much like a "canary in a coal mine". Their presence (or disappearance) is a clue to the overall health of the ecosystem they inhabit.
I have exactly ONE Michigan trout stamp, and would like more. Does anyone out there have any? I have a few duck stamps (1938, 39, and 40 I believe....) I'd be willing to trade!
Let’s consider the environmental impact of us using this web site and typing a post about the environment. There are three primary environmental impacts;
Impact from manufacturing the devices we are using
Impact at disposal of the devices we are using
Impact from use of our devices (energy consumption)
Computer manufacturing accounts for the largest amount of CO2 emissions followed by use. The EPA says that computers and monitors are responsible for 8 million tons of greenhouse gases per year in the US. But in any country to offset your computer’s greenhouse-effect gases emissions, you’d have to use it for at least 55 years before you replace it.
This graphic shows how much resources are used to manufacturer a the computer we are all now using to read this.
Every year over 50 million metric tons of ‘e-waste’ (electronic waste) enters the environment and e-waste accounts for 70% of the total toxic heavy metals that we discard. In places like Philippines, Pakistan, China, India, and Vietnam mostly shred e-waste and then burn it pumping huge amounts of lithium, mercury, and lead into the air and water. Here is a breakdown of the toxic things in the computer I am using right now.
In terms of the amount of electricity and the carbon footprint that we are using to post our opinions here each day; it is estimated that humans using the internet now causes more CO2 emissions and has a bigger impact on global warming than the entire aviation industry. A desktop computer that many of us are using right now typically have a 200W power supply; over a year the power used by a desktop computer will drive the emission of 175s kg of CO2 per year.
So the impact just for us to sit here and post our environmental opinions is significant; never mind everything else that we do in our daily lives. This morning I was at dialysis and the nurses use 14 pairs of rubber gloves just for me during a 4 hour treatment. I also consumed 18 plastic syringes and a large amount of other plastic in the form of tubing, plastic bags for saline, plastic dialyzer, plenty of medical tape and paper products like gauze. And of course the amount of power needed to run the machine. I do this 3 times per week including the carbon and CO2 emissions I pump into the air driving there and back home. Anyone here have any suggestions on how I might reduce my environmental impact just for this one aspect of my live or is it better if I just stop going and die so I am not polluting Mother Earth?
Given the info above, is it not hypocritical for us to be using a computer, the internet, and posting here? Our hobby, stamp collecting, also has a huge impact. Anyone care to figure out the carbon footprint of cutting down trees, printing a catalog, transporting the catalogs to a distributor, transporting a catalog to a retailer, and then transporting a catalog to our house? What about making stamps? Or are we ok with out hobby but hunters are not ok with their hobby?
Lastly, email has a much smaller carbon footprint than a mailed letter. So if we are going to be green than let's ban all snail mail from this point forward.
I drive a fuel efficient car, I am mindful of the environment when I can; but I do not kid myself that my life is not making a significant impact on earth.
Don
"I have exactly ONE Michigan trout stamp, and would like more. "
This fits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7OHG7tHrNM
"I have exactly ONE Michigan trout stamp"
New York had similar self-adhesives before they adopted their present credit-card size printed licenses. There was a sticker for each category (hunting/big game, fishing, trapping, bow, and muzzleloader) Even back then (before I collected stamps), I felt a little bad writing my name across the face of the stamp to "cancel" it. (We were required to put our signature across each one, to "tie it" to the paper license form. Had to start on the paper to the left of the stamps, across the face, and finish on the paper at the right side...)
My interests lie primarily in older "lickable" stamps, so I would be more interested in those single-color issues. I think the 1955 Michigan trout that I stumbled across is going to be a very expensive stamp.... if only because I have now discovered all the OTHER states which issued trout stamps!!!!
For those who have experience with these stamps, have you found issues with the signatures running if they need to be soaked? I imagine these were signed with a variety of pens, some which might cause problems.
Most of the early duck stamps were signed with ink that more or less dissolved in water. You find many on the internet listed as "mint" but you still see the shadow of the signature where it used to be.
I am not fond of signatures, so if it vanishes in water, even better.
The duck stamps in general seem sn peaceful and attractive.
However I often drove along Long Island's south shore, past
Moriches Bay, on the way to Southampton or Montauk Point.
As you approach a ten mile stretch the tendency is to try
to hold your breath. Seeing the impossibility of that,
especially in weekend traffic you gasp for breath and
inhale the worst stink you can imagine. I had one customer
along Montauk Highway and dreaded stopping there. Ducks are
the filthiest animals I've ever seen. The duck stamps may
be fine art, but "Phew". Amazingly people live there and
apparently get used to the stench.
Just looking at the duck images, even in the wild, turns
me off.
I find the ducks that come on my property to eat the corn I put out to leave no dirt or smell behind at all. They fight among themselves quite a bit, it's actually quite funny when they put their heads down and charge. A friend of mine had your experience with Canada Geese, much larger and full of crap - to be precise. They came out of a lake that was on the edge of their property and fouled their lawn to the point where it was too slimy to stand up on. They were probably the dirtiest critter I ever saw, or smelled. I have about 20 to 30 ducks that fly in every morning and evening but maybe black ducks and mallards are a bit cleaner.
I collect ALL of the United States, used. I actively collect revenues including the federal and state duck stamps. I've also got fishing and turkey stamps as well.
David Giles
Ottawa, Canada
"They came out of a lake that was on the edge of their property and fouled their lawn to the point where it was too slimy to stand up on."
" .... All of them with zero exceptions are cleaner animals than humans. ...."
Obviously you nver drove past those duck farms in Moriches, NY
I collect a fair bit of US BoB, but I don't have the nerve to try to collect all the State revenue stamps as well. Is there an album designed to hold it all or would someone have to design their own pages? There would have to be thousands of pages to hold all US BoB!
"I collect ALL of the United States, used. I actively collect revenues including the federal and state duck stamps. I've also got fishing and turkey stamps as well."
"I collect a fair bit of US BoB, but I don't have the nerve to try to collect all the State revenue stamps as well. Is there an album designed to hold it all or would someone have to design their own pages?"
"Obviously you never drove past those duck farms in Moriches, NY"
I have a bit of a different view in regards to the present state of nature and wildlife, at least in regards to the non-urban areas of North America. Having grown up a a dairy farm in north-central Wisconsin, we were on the southern edge of what had formerly been the Great Northern Pine Forest of the Upper Mid-West. All of northern Wisconsin was pretty much logged off during the mid- to late-1800s. Most of the huge white pipe and red pine were long gone although small patches remained. And the wildlife from that time was also gone - no more wolves, mountain lions, moose, elk, most of the large birds such as turkey, cranes, eagles, and hawks. There were tiny number of sandhill cranes that one might see at a refuge in central Wisconsin about fifty miles south of our farm. Far northern Minnesota had a few wolves, but you would have to travel out to the Rockys to find mountain lions.
That was back in the 1960s and 1970s (I just turned 64 and was born in 1956). Boy have things changed and I would argue for the better. The northern half of Wisconsin has largely been reforested and in protected areas there are now mature forests once again. While there were no wolves in Wisconsin when I moved south to Oklahoma in 1979, there now are nearly 250 wolf packs in northern and central Wisconsin. The state is trying to reintroduce elk in the far northern part of the state, with a small herd growing in number. There are reports of mountain lions being sighted, with these individuals apparently migrating from the Black Hills region of South Dakota. A moose wandered down to northern and central Wisconsin a few years back and made headlines in the area in doing so, with several dozen moose now reported in the northern part of the state. I had never seen a wild turkey in all my travels until the 1990's, now they are everywhere (California, Nebraska, Dakotas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, etc). Bald eagles were nearly gone, now they are also everywhere. I last bicycled through Wisconsin in the fall of 2012 and they would be perched in tree branches over roads, peering down at me as a rode by under them. Other eagles, hawks, falcons and owls, while rarely seen in the past, are now everywhere. And those sandhill cranes, now in their many tens of thousands in Wisconsin, are also joined by whooping cranes.
The Wisconsin River, once given up for dead, is now vibrant once again. The northern Mississippi River area between Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, is a thriving wetland packed with wildlife.
Even down here in Oklahoma I see much more wildlife than I did when I first moved here in 1979. The turkeys and raptors now abound, and I really love seeing the flocks of sandhill cranes flying north or south depending upon the season - at first they look like a flock of Canada geese until you hear them calling.
I experience wildlife firsthand while on my bicycling travels. No better way to see wildlife since a vehicle roof doesn't encumber your view and you don't have any engine noise to alert to the wildlife to your presence. The only problem I have encountered is that while the wildlife is used to vehicle traffic and largely ignores cars and trucks, as soon as they see me on my bicycle they panic. Deer can get away easily, but the pronghorn out west of here are another matter. When I come upon one on the side of the road, it can be quite comical watching it run down the fence-line trying to find a place where it can fit under the fence to get away from me - while they can run like the wind, they can't jump.
So don't give in to the "World Is Ending" hysteria, things are in a lot of ways a lot better off than in years past.
"So don't give in to the "World Is Ending" hysteria, things are in a lot of ways a lot better off than in years past."
I prefer to see the glass as half full rather than as half empty.
If you are worried that the world is going to hell, what exactly are you doing to help prevent that from happening? Don't point a finger at others, do what you can yourself and set a good example - others will notice and perhaps join in.
In my case, I have not owned an internal combustion engine since January 1997. My commuting is either by bicycle or by walking. When I moved back to Oklahoma from the Netherlands in 1999, I purposely chose to live close to where I worked (2 miles away) so that I could either bicycle or walk to work. Groceries are about a 9.5 mile round trip from home, with everything carried on my bicycle or attached trailer. The very infrequent times that I need to travel outside of the small city where I live, I can rent a car for the day or longer if necessary. But even with limiting myself to travel by bicycle, I have probably seen more of North America in the past 20 years than most of you.
I rent a smallish townhouse rather than a detached house; smaller living area and some shared walls to help with the heating and cooling requirements. Very small common backyard area and virtually nothing out front other than a driveway.
I recycle what I can, from separating out cardboard and paper products, aluminum and other metals, and return all my plastic grocery bags to the grocery store for recycling.
Choices can be made that will help to limit your impact upon the world. Are you making those choices? It may result in not everything being easily and readily available to you, but then what is more important to you?
Richard, I do most of the things I can think of.
I recycle just about everything. I do not buy new things easily. I drive a car model 2000 and I will drive it till it lasts with all repair work I have to put into it. Having a family with kids and riding a bicycle doesn't quite work, but I have bicycles. There were times this is how I went fishing 50 or more kilometers away!
Two pictures from this spring's clean up of highways. I collected over 20 bags, but hardly put a dent into into it. Two months later all looked the same. And , no, people do not change their behavior.
I posted a video of the garbage situation in town on a local Facebook group page. One commented "I am willing to collect but who will collect the full bags?" I responded: "I will, just let me know where the bags are." I received thumbs up and of course no full bags were collected or reported by anyone!
Choose to see the glass half full. I cannot. Reducing our carbon footprint while population is still growing just doesn't work.
Cougar,
Check out the attached video on U-Tube. It is very appropriate based upon your name and stated worry about the future of wildlife in general:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ktRhBcHza4
In my bicycle travels over the years, I have come across most large North American wildlife. From bears, both black and grizzly, mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, moose, javelina, rocky mountain sheep, dall sheep, mountain goats, coyotes, foxes, river otters, elephant seals, seals, fisher, badgers, snapping turtles, etc. The few that I haven't seen are caribou, musk ox, wolves, and mountain lions. The wolves I believe I would rather hear howling than actually see. A mountain lion I don't wish to see under any circumstances, with the video linked above a very good reason why.
The guy who filmed the encounter linked above was later interviewed, and it is interesting listening to what was going through his mind and what was actually happening during the whole encounter. If interested that video is linked below. This happened in Utah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8sTYyrzm4Q
Twice in my life while bicycle camping I have been really terrified, and both times it was at night. Once was in northern Michigan in a tract of woods well out of the beaten path. At times when no other options exist I will do what bicycle campers call "stealth camping". That is where one sets up a tent in some out-of-the-way place, without any permission, just for a place to spend the night. That time in Michigan I was following Michigan Highway 28 across the UP when the day ran out before I came across an organized campground. So I headed down a side road about a mile and then cut into the woods on an old abandoned logging road. After going about a quarter mile in from the road I set up my tent. In the middle of the night I started hearing the most blood-curdling howling coming from a short distance away just behind a small rise. I never did see what made that noise and kind of forgot about it. Then, about 20 years later I was flipping channels on the TV and came across the ending of a show about big-foot. They played a recording of some animal cries from the woods in the Pacific Northwest that they claimed was big-foot; the hair stood up on the back of my neck because I instantly recognized that as the same thing that I heard up in Northern Michigan. I don't believe in big-foot but it was interesting how that auto-reflex kicked in when I heard that sound again.
The other time was in British Columbia in 2014 when I was traveling up the Stewart-Cassiar Highway (Highway 37). Again at one point I stealth camped but right next to the highway. I was by a couple-foot-wide by foot-deep stream that was crashing down the side of hill, so that was all I could hear. I had been seeing black bears regularly along the road. Night set in, it was cloudy and starting to lightly rain, so there was absolutely no light. I was in my tiny one-person back-packing tent sleeping when a car went by on the highway. It slowed down and someone yelled out the window, twice, very loudly, "Bear!". I shot up, got my bear spray safety off and then all I could do was wait because I couldn't see or hear anything other than the rushing water. It was probably someone's sick prank, but if they were trying to scare me it worked beautifully.
Following are couple of pictures from along that highway in BC, starting with the southern end of the highway:
This was my rig for the trip, a 6300 mile trip from Southern Oklahoma, to the Rio Grande River, west to El Paso, on to Phoenix, then the Grand Canyon, Zion Canyon, up through Utah, Idaho and Montana, up into Banff and Jasper National Parks in Alberta, then out to the west and up the Stewart-Cassiar to the Alaska Highway which I took to Tok, Alaska, and from there to the west and southwest to Anchorage, then down to Seward and then back to Anchorage. From there it was train to Whittier and then the Alaska Ferry to Bellingham, Washington. Then AMTRAK to Seattle, from Seattle to Chicago, and Chicago to Fort Worth, Texas. From there it was about 150 mile pedal back home to southern Oklahoma.
This picture shows how narrow and wild it is along this highway. It did travel up this highway once before in 1986 and then it was mostly gravel. At least now it is all paved.
The wildlife up there is not used to seeing people. This little guy came out to see me after I surprised them a few minutes earlier. Too bad I couldn't get a picture of his sibling as that fox was jet black except for his white-tipped tail. Apparently the black coloration is common in northern British Columbia since about half the red fox that I saw there were this black color. In the Yukon I came across another color variation, with a grayish-brown mottled coloration. I wasn't able to get a good picture of that fox.
Sorry if this post got a bit long, but I got to typing and couldn't stop.
And no, I don't have any pictures of ducks which is supposed to be the topic of this thread.
To heck with the ducks anyway..... that little fella is ridiculously cute!
Richard, thanks for sharing your stories and pictures. It is nearly 1 am here and I was just going to bed. Your first picture shows the gas station before Kitwanga , intersection of HWY16 and HWY37. It is 95km from my place in Terrace. I go hiking up the Kitwanga mountain - my best hiking place so far. Tomorrow I will post some pictures and relate some of my stories. This fox is so, so cute!! I have taken pictures of foxes in our area but they look nothing like this one. Wonder if you took your picture a few hundred kilometers from here.
The fox picture was getting near the north end of the Highway 37. It was quite a few days ride north of the highway intersection shown in the first picture.
When you were in this area in 2014 I must have been sitting in an office in downtown Terrace. I remember the weather was nice; not like this year or last year. We were busy working for Chevron on a project that was put on hold in 2015 and was never finished.
There are many bears in our area and they are easily surprised on a bicycle. One time I nearly ran into one of them near Kamloops while descending the Paul Lake Road on a road bike. It is a steep road and when one is doing 60km/h or more coming to a stop takes a long time.
Probably my most unnerving experience was when I went to Algonquin park with a friend to do portaging and brook trout fishing on a secret lake. The first day we spent rowing across a big lake, then walking through some wild places to get to the shores of another wild lake. We rowed along this one for hours and then found a place to camp on its shore. Next day we were going to be portaging to the third lake - the one holding the large brook trout. We stashed our food high in the trees and then went to sleep. About an hour later I could hear the steps of a large animal near our tent, the animal was sniffing, then down came some of the cans we had placed in the tree nearby. It was then that I realized we had nothing on us, not even bear spay and crying for help would have been useless - we were deep into the wilderness. But the bear wasn't after us. The mosquitoes and black flies got us on this trip though.
Cougars I have not seen, but I was on the tracks of one in the winter. He was in front of me and apparently knew I was behind him. I could tell he came down from a tree and had made a few leaps. Interestingly when I turned around I had a coyote show up to investigate me and he came really close. No idea what the relation between the cougar and the coyote was, but it is possible there was a kill nearby.
In the past years I have had a small dog with me. He was supposed to be my daughter's dog but became mine. He is afraid of other dogs and cats, but he would go after every moose or black bear! Grizzlies, not so much. He senses them from miles away and gets terrified.
Last month I was fishing for trout on a local river where grizzlies hang around to feast on coho. I have seen them only once, but there are always signs of them. This time, my dog became really nervous when it was getting close to dusk and started whimpering. At one point he couldn't stand it any more and jumped in the fast water to reach me. I thought, OK, let's listen to him. So up the trail we went. There is a spot where we cross the river - I hold my dog in my hands when crossing. This time he nearly twisted his neck to look back at the shore behind us for whatever was following us. We never saw anything.
In the pictures above The arrow shows the Kitwanga gas station where your first picture is taken. The Kitwanga mountain is the snow covered peaks between the words "Alaska" and "Stewart" in the sign.
And the second picture shows one of our typical foxes - usually black or grey in color.
What is up with the 3 water bottles you have on the bike? I have never been on such epic bike tours , but do you ever run out of water with a single bottle?
Cougar....
the phrase "large brook trout" makes me very jealous!!!! Here in NY, we still have native brookies, but they are relatively small, and uncommon compared to the browns and rainbows. It's a welcome surprise when these little jewels break the surface at the end of my line!
Cougar,
Three water bottles is just the tip of the iceberg. I usually have many more bottles of something to drink stashed away in my panniers. May be water, but is usually orange juice or V8 juice - both are good sources for electrolytes, especially potassium.
At times I end up for a lot longer time away from any drinking sources that I had planned. On that trip in 2014, I spent the first night on that highway at the private Cassiar RV Campground just up from the highway intersection and just before the town of Kitwanga. My stop for the next night was a campsite described in The Milepost (https://themilepost.com/) as a nice site next to Bonus Lake with a pier (it's called Bonus Lake Recreation Site on Google Maps). It turned out being completely decrepit, the pier was non-existent, the lake was weedy with a muddy bottom (I looked at retrieving water that I could boil and then drink but gave up), and a couple who had just left in their motor home came back to tell me they had seen a black bear just up the road. So after already traveling 60 miles with that loaded bike, I took off hoping to find a more pleasant place to stay.
Now I had only planned on going 60 miles that day and then having a ready drinking water source, so did not carry extra with me. By the time I got to the no-go site, I was already out of water. At a rest stop several miles up the road and found a Mountie and asked him for help, but got none at the time. He came back later several miles up the road with a small bottle of water - boy was I grateful for that as it was hot and I was parched. But that didn't last long and soon I was not only parched but completely worn out.
By the time I hit the low 90s with my mileage, I was off the bike and walking (much easier to cause drivers to take pity and stop to ask if they can help). Two ladies in a pickup did and they loaded me up and hauled me about the 4-5 miles to Meziadin Lake Provincial Park. When I first got in their pickup, they offered me a bottled water and I downed it so quick that they gave me a couple more. The park offered me a great campsite and all the cool clean liquid I could hope to drink (and then some).
Many times that third bottle is replaced with a fuel bottle for my MSR Wisperlite camp stove. I find that too much road goop gets tossed up onto that bottle to make drinking from it palatable.
" a campsite described in The Milepost (https://themilepost.com/) as a nice site next to Bonus Lake with a pier"
Your comments and listing of place names brings back a lot of memories. Spent the night at a private campground just north of Iskut. Spent two nights at a motel in Dease Lake.
Also camped one night at Bell II Lodge - couldn't afford the $200+ per night for a motel room. I did have a fantastic meal that night at their restaurant. But what I really remember about that site is the young (18-20 year old) New Zealander who also spent the night there camping and was also travelling by bicycle. He had bicycled all the way up to the Arctic Coast in Yukon Territory and was now heading back south again. They had a guest laundry and I used every chance I could get to wash my clothes. Since there was plenty of room in the washer, I offered him a chance to wash his stuff for free. Boy did he take advantage of that offer. He brought every stitch of clothing he had except for the underwear he had on; he said that they lodge staff were giving him dirty looks for wandering around the grounds just wearing his skivvies. And when I checked the washer after a few minutes, the water was nearly black; I had never seen such dirty washer water before. He must not have cleaned his clothes in forever.
I didn't find insects a problem. Mosquitoes I expected. I just didn't want to encounter a lot of biting flies and I did not.
That day I described in my previous post is the only time I ran into a problem on that trip with running out of water. The other 6000+ miles were not a problem for the most part.
While I didn't carry one on this trip, the next time I will have a small water filtration device with me also.
If I know I might not see civilization for two or three days, I pack enough liquids and food to last for at least three days. With a bit of prodigious use of those items, I can stretch it time-wise even a bit farther. For food I usually carry some candy bars, cheese, sausage, dried fruit, peanut butter and jam along with a loaf of bread or flour tortillas. I try to pack as calorie-dense of food as possible, so fatty stuff is preferred (therefore the sausage and/or cheese and peanut butter).
In years past I have set a Garmin computer up on my bicycle that would track my distance and elevation using satellites, with it being very accurate in doing so (it was built to be attached to the handlebar or handlebar stem, so is small and very light-weight). I took off one day about 15 years ago and was out pedaling all day on a ride of about 150 miles. The Garmin battery ran out of power before I got home, but before it died it had registered my calorie burn for the ride as being over 8,000 calories. I did an organized cross-country ride back in 2001 from Los Angeles to Boston over a time period of 32 days (one rest day in Topeka, Kansas, otherwise averaged about 110 miles a day for the other 31 days). The ride leader told us to not stop eating since we would average over 6,000 calories burned each day. I must be very good at eating since I actually gained some weight on that trip. They carried all our gear for us on that trip as well as put us up on motels each night; also had restaurant food for breakfast and dinner. For lunch and a couple of snack stops each day one of the support vehicles provided all the food at predetermined locations.
So if you want to loose weight, take up long-distance bicycling.
You are lucky having time for such long bike rides. After we adopted a dog 6 years ago and it became mine, I have been on a bike only a few times, all of them , but one were on a mountain bike, either my son's, my wife's or my daughter's bikes. I used them while fishing along logging roads. It is so much better to ride, have the dog run along and enjoy the fresh air and scenery. This one other time happened in spring. I picked up my old road bike and just went up the neighboring hill, rode around town and made a small loop to come back - total distance 10km if that. Did I ever feel heavy, tired and irrelevant after that and my but was hurting too! I'm so out of shape and aging doesn't help much either.
The road bike I rode was bought in Inverurie, Scotland. I bought it in 1993 after being in the area for a few months; it is, of course, not comparable to the present day lightweight bikes, but it was a huge improvement back then to what I rode in Bulgaria. Paid 225 quid by memory for it back then and in all the kilometers I put on it , nothing ever broke. Maybe the chain is a little stretched now and needs servicing. In the early 90's I was able to ride 50km west of my town into a scarcely populated river valley, spend the day hiking and fishing and then ride back home. Another route I had would take me on a steep mountain climb for 20km South to a mountain pass; I would leave my bike there and descend into 2 river valleys to fish, then climb out of there and ride back to town. This last part, in this case, was the most fun of all. I didn't need to do much for over half an hour as it was 100% descent.
But now with having a job, things are not going anywhere. They say this is freedom....doesn't quite feel that way. But if I decide to quit, I may have a few months of enjoyment of life before going back into darkness.
I like being outdoors hiking, fishing and .....hunting, but not with a gun. I hunt with a digital camera.
Wildlife, fish and landscape are well represented in my stamp collection.
Of course the US duck and trout stamps would hold a great deal of appeal to me.
But I can't imagine many hunters and fishermen are collectors like me; neither do I believe the typical stamp collector would collect fishing and hunting license stamps.
This is why I am shocked when I see listings on auction sites for hunting stamps with prices going well over what we would pay for an average stamp. Those stamps do not appear rare either, as one can find any federal duck stamp wanted , any day of the year and choose the quality they want.
So here is a current listing of RW3 in a condition, I would consider unacceptable for my collection, unless acquired as a filler for a few cents. It is currently at $4.25 with $2.50 shipping.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/WTDstamps-RW3-1936-US-Federal-Duck-Stamp-NG/274575780746?hash=item3fedfdeb8a:g:vW4AAOSwbgVfsHdL
My conclusion is that there are investors in duck stamps. Not collectors. Am I right? Does anyone know why these stamps go that high in price?
It is possible not too many were printed and many got destroyed while the hunter took a dive in the pond, but still, there are always new listings. They can't be so scarce.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
US Hunting (‘Duck’) Permit stamps are a very, very popular collecting area; the stamps are nice and the proceeds go to maintaining wildlife areas. Complete, mint collections typically sell $1100-$1800 range but I am not aware of a larger number of ‘investors’ than in other areas of US stamps. Here is my collection
https://stampsmarter.org/learning/album_duck_home.html
A recent eBay sale
https://www.ebay.com/itm/US-DUCK-Stamp-Collection-RW1-RW50-1934-83-F-VF-MNH-or-MH-/363098552529
Don
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"What am I missing in this picture?"
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
I do not avidly collect them, but being a collector of US BOB, I do keep any I happen to 'stumble' across.
I was never that impressed by the artwork as the avid collector seemed to be.
And I never really understood the attraction many have...nor the high value put on them.
To each his own.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"And I never really understood the attraction many have...nor the high value put on them."
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Some of the artwork (the original art from which the stamps are copied) is exquisite, and the competition for the honor of having the artwork chosen each year is quite intense. I agree that most of these stamps aren't anything overly amazing, but there is definitely a subculture of hunting collectors who pay stupid money for hunting/fishing related items. Empty shotgun shell boxes, old licenses (paper, pinback buttons, hatpins), and other seemingly worthless crap goes for waaay more than you would expect.
And then there's the guns....... I've seen sales in the thousands, sometimes tens of thousands for old guns. Hunters (especially "gentleman" hunters who can swing month-long trips chasing big game) have deep pockets.
Of course, those guys don't often see the value in our stamps, either....
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"especially "gentleman" hunters"
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
I disagree with being critical of what other folks collect. There are a lot of stamps and areas of philately that do not intertest me but I see no reason I should bad mouth them or the material. In my opinion our hobby cannot afford casting stones towards what others collect.
I also disagree with being critical of what others chose to eat. Hunters typically eat what the shoot and a ducks life is no different than a chicken that was killed to go into dog food or the KFC bucket. A deer is no different than a cow that gave its life for a steak or a burger. If a person chooses to be vegetarian, that is great and I would never be critical of their choice.
Don
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
" It is the age where they will rightly be viewed as callous killers of the last remaining wildlife."
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"I disagree with being critical of what other folks collect."
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"Ian, you have no foxes left in Britain"
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Strange. I remember reading somewhere that the last fox was shot in Britain some time in the 18th century. Definitely I did not see any in Scotland but I saw lots of really small rabbits on the hills in the pastures. They were everywhere. Things must have changed since I last visited in the 18th century !! :-) :-)
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Cougar:- It was wolves that "disappeared" not foxes.
Sheepshanks is right the urban foxes are a pest. However the country foxes which are many are some of the most beautiful animals.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"Have you ever seen the damage a herd of deer can do? "
"Have you ever seen a deer or fawn die from starvation because of insufficient herd management?"
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
" Wildlife management will not change that."
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
I remember a time when you drove on the Autobahn and your car window would have hundreds of insects on it. Now 300 km and not one. The reason (my view) Insecticides and anti-weed chemicals. The food chain is therefore brocken at its base. Take a look at the countryside where you live, how did it look when you were a child. There were probably more trees, weeds, flowers, and a lot of animals. Now we need this space for fields of wheat, corn and other food. Unfortunaly most of the corn and wheat is not used for human consumption. It is used as feed for farm animals and bio gas. The occeans are filled with micro plastic just like our lakes and rivers, chewing gum even contains plastic ( look it up). The meat we eat probably has more prescription drugs in it than a pharmacy, it´s all about the profit and the investors.
Back in the 80´s Wildlife managment here in Germany restocked the Rhein with Atlantic Salmon frey. This worked very well, and Salmon started to return to the Rhein. The Rhein has alot of ships travelling on it that travel through all parts of Europe and even the world. When they pump out their balast water they bring Invasive species like the Round goby that eats almost everything it gets. So were does that leave the Salmon.
The Asian Bark Beetle was introduced here by way of crates that came from Asia: these have desimated huge portions of our forests. The south American rain forest is burning away and being destroyed, the ice shields are melting, We are changing our world, for the worst, yes, but no matter what we do we can´t change it. We are a predators and always will be. We constantly make our lifes more comfotable, not necessarily better.
I´m not saying we should kill animals for the pleasure of the trophy, I hate people that do that. What I´m trying to say we should not intefere with a natural process. You and I might not like it. Even if thousands or millions of people change their way of living it won´t stop the prosses. Everyone wants to feed his/her family, own the most modern iphone and drive around in their cars. We need more and more space for fields and life-stock. So why bother shooting a couple of deer out of a herd because they don´t have enough to eat. If i´m not mistaken I believe that the polar bear is already crossbreeding with grizzlys, evolving into a new species.
"Not only that but is one childs life worth it to allow nature to run riot?"
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"Was I ever critical of that?..."
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"Before I get completley off topic. Are hunting "stamps" not a sort of revenue stamp?"
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Our "interference" in the natural order is more hazardous in terms of habitat destruction than it is a matter of decimation of herd numbers through hunting. With the exceptions of the dodo, the passenger pigeon, and very nearly the American bison, we don't generally kill off an entire species that way. Its through deforestation, water usage, human overpopulation, and pollution that we have the most effect on the flora and fauna around us.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"Our "interference" in the natural order is more hazardous in terms of habitat destruction than it is a matter of decimation of herd numbers through hunting."
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
My final words:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPtSxZchA34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0kSYH-L-YQ
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
We're way off topic for Duck Stamps, but what the heck. I've been living on the same land for almost 40 years. I have about 5 acres and most of it is left as nature intends. The things I never see any more are amphibians. I can remember having to be very careful mowing the lawn because of toads, frogs and snakes. They have almost totally disappeared now, even in the fields and wet areas. NOT GOOD FOR THE FOOD CHAIN!! I can remember reading somewhere that when the amphibians disappear it is a very bad sign, I don't even get the chorus of spring peepers anymore. They're twinning highways in my area, trees come down and wetlands get filled in. My rant for the day!!
By the way, I collect duck stamps. I stop at #75 (not sure why) and am only missing #73. I don't care if they are mint or used and I find the signed ones have more character. I noticed that the prices for the newer ones are almost higher than the older ones.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Harvey, you're dead on with that point. Amphibians are considered an indicator species, much like a "canary in a coal mine". Their presence (or disappearance) is a clue to the overall health of the ecosystem they inhabit.
I have exactly ONE Michigan trout stamp, and would like more. Does anyone out there have any? I have a few duck stamps (1938, 39, and 40 I believe....) I'd be willing to trade!
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Let’s consider the environmental impact of us using this web site and typing a post about the environment. There are three primary environmental impacts;
Impact from manufacturing the devices we are using
Impact at disposal of the devices we are using
Impact from use of our devices (energy consumption)
Computer manufacturing accounts for the largest amount of CO2 emissions followed by use. The EPA says that computers and monitors are responsible for 8 million tons of greenhouse gases per year in the US. But in any country to offset your computer’s greenhouse-effect gases emissions, you’d have to use it for at least 55 years before you replace it.
This graphic shows how much resources are used to manufacturer a the computer we are all now using to read this.
Every year over 50 million metric tons of ‘e-waste’ (electronic waste) enters the environment and e-waste accounts for 70% of the total toxic heavy metals that we discard. In places like Philippines, Pakistan, China, India, and Vietnam mostly shred e-waste and then burn it pumping huge amounts of lithium, mercury, and lead into the air and water. Here is a breakdown of the toxic things in the computer I am using right now.
In terms of the amount of electricity and the carbon footprint that we are using to post our opinions here each day; it is estimated that humans using the internet now causes more CO2 emissions and has a bigger impact on global warming than the entire aviation industry. A desktop computer that many of us are using right now typically have a 200W power supply; over a year the power used by a desktop computer will drive the emission of 175s kg of CO2 per year.
So the impact just for us to sit here and post our environmental opinions is significant; never mind everything else that we do in our daily lives. This morning I was at dialysis and the nurses use 14 pairs of rubber gloves just for me during a 4 hour treatment. I also consumed 18 plastic syringes and a large amount of other plastic in the form of tubing, plastic bags for saline, plastic dialyzer, plenty of medical tape and paper products like gauze. And of course the amount of power needed to run the machine. I do this 3 times per week including the carbon and CO2 emissions I pump into the air driving there and back home. Anyone here have any suggestions on how I might reduce my environmental impact just for this one aspect of my live or is it better if I just stop going and die so I am not polluting Mother Earth?
Given the info above, is it not hypocritical for us to be using a computer, the internet, and posting here? Our hobby, stamp collecting, also has a huge impact. Anyone care to figure out the carbon footprint of cutting down trees, printing a catalog, transporting the catalogs to a distributor, transporting a catalog to a retailer, and then transporting a catalog to our house? What about making stamps? Or are we ok with out hobby but hunters are not ok with their hobby?
Lastly, email has a much smaller carbon footprint than a mailed letter. So if we are going to be green than let's ban all snail mail from this point forward.
I drive a fuel efficient car, I am mindful of the environment when I can; but I do not kid myself that my life is not making a significant impact on earth.
Don
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"I have exactly ONE Michigan trout stamp, and would like more. "
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
This fits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7OHG7tHrNM
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"I have exactly ONE Michigan trout stamp"
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
New York had similar self-adhesives before they adopted their present credit-card size printed licenses. There was a sticker for each category (hunting/big game, fishing, trapping, bow, and muzzleloader) Even back then (before I collected stamps), I felt a little bad writing my name across the face of the stamp to "cancel" it. (We were required to put our signature across each one, to "tie it" to the paper license form. Had to start on the paper to the left of the stamps, across the face, and finish on the paper at the right side...)
My interests lie primarily in older "lickable" stamps, so I would be more interested in those single-color issues. I think the 1955 Michigan trout that I stumbled across is going to be a very expensive stamp.... if only because I have now discovered all the OTHER states which issued trout stamps!!!!
For those who have experience with these stamps, have you found issues with the signatures running if they need to be soaked? I imagine these were signed with a variety of pens, some which might cause problems.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Most of the early duck stamps were signed with ink that more or less dissolved in water. You find many on the internet listed as "mint" but you still see the shadow of the signature where it used to be.
I am not fond of signatures, so if it vanishes in water, even better.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
The duck stamps in general seem sn peaceful and attractive.
However I often drove along Long Island's south shore, past
Moriches Bay, on the way to Southampton or Montauk Point.
As you approach a ten mile stretch the tendency is to try
to hold your breath. Seeing the impossibility of that,
especially in weekend traffic you gasp for breath and
inhale the worst stink you can imagine. I had one customer
along Montauk Highway and dreaded stopping there. Ducks are
the filthiest animals I've ever seen. The duck stamps may
be fine art, but "Phew". Amazingly people live there and
apparently get used to the stench.
Just looking at the duck images, even in the wild, turns
me off.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
I find the ducks that come on my property to eat the corn I put out to leave no dirt or smell behind at all. They fight among themselves quite a bit, it's actually quite funny when they put their heads down and charge. A friend of mine had your experience with Canada Geese, much larger and full of crap - to be precise. They came out of a lake that was on the edge of their property and fouled their lawn to the point where it was too slimy to stand up on. They were probably the dirtiest critter I ever saw, or smelled. I have about 20 to 30 ducks that fly in every morning and evening but maybe black ducks and mallards are a bit cleaner.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
I collect ALL of the United States, used. I actively collect revenues including the federal and state duck stamps. I've also got fishing and turkey stamps as well.
David Giles
Ottawa, Canada
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"They came out of a lake that was on the edge of their property and fouled their lawn to the point where it was too slimy to stand up on."
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
" .... All of them with zero exceptions are cleaner animals than humans. ...."
Obviously you nver drove past those duck farms in Moriches, NY
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
I collect a fair bit of US BoB, but I don't have the nerve to try to collect all the State revenue stamps as well. Is there an album designed to hold it all or would someone have to design their own pages? There would have to be thousands of pages to hold all US BoB!
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"I collect ALL of the United States, used. I actively collect revenues including the federal and state duck stamps. I've also got fishing and turkey stamps as well."
"I collect a fair bit of US BoB, but I don't have the nerve to try to collect all the State revenue stamps as well. Is there an album designed to hold it all or would someone have to design their own pages?"
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"Obviously you never drove past those duck farms in Moriches, NY"
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
I have a bit of a different view in regards to the present state of nature and wildlife, at least in regards to the non-urban areas of North America. Having grown up a a dairy farm in north-central Wisconsin, we were on the southern edge of what had formerly been the Great Northern Pine Forest of the Upper Mid-West. All of northern Wisconsin was pretty much logged off during the mid- to late-1800s. Most of the huge white pipe and red pine were long gone although small patches remained. And the wildlife from that time was also gone - no more wolves, mountain lions, moose, elk, most of the large birds such as turkey, cranes, eagles, and hawks. There were tiny number of sandhill cranes that one might see at a refuge in central Wisconsin about fifty miles south of our farm. Far northern Minnesota had a few wolves, but you would have to travel out to the Rockys to find mountain lions.
That was back in the 1960s and 1970s (I just turned 64 and was born in 1956). Boy have things changed and I would argue for the better. The northern half of Wisconsin has largely been reforested and in protected areas there are now mature forests once again. While there were no wolves in Wisconsin when I moved south to Oklahoma in 1979, there now are nearly 250 wolf packs in northern and central Wisconsin. The state is trying to reintroduce elk in the far northern part of the state, with a small herd growing in number. There are reports of mountain lions being sighted, with these individuals apparently migrating from the Black Hills region of South Dakota. A moose wandered down to northern and central Wisconsin a few years back and made headlines in the area in doing so, with several dozen moose now reported in the northern part of the state. I had never seen a wild turkey in all my travels until the 1990's, now they are everywhere (California, Nebraska, Dakotas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, etc). Bald eagles were nearly gone, now they are also everywhere. I last bicycled through Wisconsin in the fall of 2012 and they would be perched in tree branches over roads, peering down at me as a rode by under them. Other eagles, hawks, falcons and owls, while rarely seen in the past, are now everywhere. And those sandhill cranes, now in their many tens of thousands in Wisconsin, are also joined by whooping cranes.
The Wisconsin River, once given up for dead, is now vibrant once again. The northern Mississippi River area between Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, is a thriving wetland packed with wildlife.
Even down here in Oklahoma I see much more wildlife than I did when I first moved here in 1979. The turkeys and raptors now abound, and I really love seeing the flocks of sandhill cranes flying north or south depending upon the season - at first they look like a flock of Canada geese until you hear them calling.
I experience wildlife firsthand while on my bicycling travels. No better way to see wildlife since a vehicle roof doesn't encumber your view and you don't have any engine noise to alert to the wildlife to your presence. The only problem I have encountered is that while the wildlife is used to vehicle traffic and largely ignores cars and trucks, as soon as they see me on my bicycle they panic. Deer can get away easily, but the pronghorn out west of here are another matter. When I come upon one on the side of the road, it can be quite comical watching it run down the fence-line trying to find a place where it can fit under the fence to get away from me - while they can run like the wind, they can't jump.
So don't give in to the "World Is Ending" hysteria, things are in a lot of ways a lot better off than in years past.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
"So don't give in to the "World Is Ending" hysteria, things are in a lot of ways a lot better off than in years past."
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
I prefer to see the glass as half full rather than as half empty.
If you are worried that the world is going to hell, what exactly are you doing to help prevent that from happening? Don't point a finger at others, do what you can yourself and set a good example - others will notice and perhaps join in.
In my case, I have not owned an internal combustion engine since January 1997. My commuting is either by bicycle or by walking. When I moved back to Oklahoma from the Netherlands in 1999, I purposely chose to live close to where I worked (2 miles away) so that I could either bicycle or walk to work. Groceries are about a 9.5 mile round trip from home, with everything carried on my bicycle or attached trailer. The very infrequent times that I need to travel outside of the small city where I live, I can rent a car for the day or longer if necessary. But even with limiting myself to travel by bicycle, I have probably seen more of North America in the past 20 years than most of you.
I rent a smallish townhouse rather than a detached house; smaller living area and some shared walls to help with the heating and cooling requirements. Very small common backyard area and virtually nothing out front other than a driveway.
I recycle what I can, from separating out cardboard and paper products, aluminum and other metals, and return all my plastic grocery bags to the grocery store for recycling.
Choices can be made that will help to limit your impact upon the world. Are you making those choices? It may result in not everything being easily and readily available to you, but then what is more important to you?
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Richard, I do most of the things I can think of.
I recycle just about everything. I do not buy new things easily. I drive a car model 2000 and I will drive it till it lasts with all repair work I have to put into it. Having a family with kids and riding a bicycle doesn't quite work, but I have bicycles. There were times this is how I went fishing 50 or more kilometers away!
Two pictures from this spring's clean up of highways. I collected over 20 bags, but hardly put a dent into into it. Two months later all looked the same. And , no, people do not change their behavior.
I posted a video of the garbage situation in town on a local Facebook group page. One commented "I am willing to collect but who will collect the full bags?" I responded: "I will, just let me know where the bags are." I received thumbs up and of course no full bags were collected or reported by anyone!
Choose to see the glass half full. I cannot. Reducing our carbon footprint while population is still growing just doesn't work.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Cougar,
Check out the attached video on U-Tube. It is very appropriate based upon your name and stated worry about the future of wildlife in general:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ktRhBcHza4
In my bicycle travels over the years, I have come across most large North American wildlife. From bears, both black and grizzly, mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, moose, javelina, rocky mountain sheep, dall sheep, mountain goats, coyotes, foxes, river otters, elephant seals, seals, fisher, badgers, snapping turtles, etc. The few that I haven't seen are caribou, musk ox, wolves, and mountain lions. The wolves I believe I would rather hear howling than actually see. A mountain lion I don't wish to see under any circumstances, with the video linked above a very good reason why.
The guy who filmed the encounter linked above was later interviewed, and it is interesting listening to what was going through his mind and what was actually happening during the whole encounter. If interested that video is linked below. This happened in Utah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8sTYyrzm4Q
Twice in my life while bicycle camping I have been really terrified, and both times it was at night. Once was in northern Michigan in a tract of woods well out of the beaten path. At times when no other options exist I will do what bicycle campers call "stealth camping". That is where one sets up a tent in some out-of-the-way place, without any permission, just for a place to spend the night. That time in Michigan I was following Michigan Highway 28 across the UP when the day ran out before I came across an organized campground. So I headed down a side road about a mile and then cut into the woods on an old abandoned logging road. After going about a quarter mile in from the road I set up my tent. In the middle of the night I started hearing the most blood-curdling howling coming from a short distance away just behind a small rise. I never did see what made that noise and kind of forgot about it. Then, about 20 years later I was flipping channels on the TV and came across the ending of a show about big-foot. They played a recording of some animal cries from the woods in the Pacific Northwest that they claimed was big-foot; the hair stood up on the back of my neck because I instantly recognized that as the same thing that I heard up in Northern Michigan. I don't believe in big-foot but it was interesting how that auto-reflex kicked in when I heard that sound again.
The other time was in British Columbia in 2014 when I was traveling up the Stewart-Cassiar Highway (Highway 37). Again at one point I stealth camped but right next to the highway. I was by a couple-foot-wide by foot-deep stream that was crashing down the side of hill, so that was all I could hear. I had been seeing black bears regularly along the road. Night set in, it was cloudy and starting to lightly rain, so there was absolutely no light. I was in my tiny one-person back-packing tent sleeping when a car went by on the highway. It slowed down and someone yelled out the window, twice, very loudly, "Bear!". I shot up, got my bear spray safety off and then all I could do was wait because I couldn't see or hear anything other than the rushing water. It was probably someone's sick prank, but if they were trying to scare me it worked beautifully.
Following are couple of pictures from along that highway in BC, starting with the southern end of the highway:
This was my rig for the trip, a 6300 mile trip from Southern Oklahoma, to the Rio Grande River, west to El Paso, on to Phoenix, then the Grand Canyon, Zion Canyon, up through Utah, Idaho and Montana, up into Banff and Jasper National Parks in Alberta, then out to the west and up the Stewart-Cassiar to the Alaska Highway which I took to Tok, Alaska, and from there to the west and southwest to Anchorage, then down to Seward and then back to Anchorage. From there it was train to Whittier and then the Alaska Ferry to Bellingham, Washington. Then AMTRAK to Seattle, from Seattle to Chicago, and Chicago to Fort Worth, Texas. From there it was about 150 mile pedal back home to southern Oklahoma.
This picture shows how narrow and wild it is along this highway. It did travel up this highway once before in 1986 and then it was mostly gravel. At least now it is all paved.
The wildlife up there is not used to seeing people. This little guy came out to see me after I surprised them a few minutes earlier. Too bad I couldn't get a picture of his sibling as that fox was jet black except for his white-tipped tail. Apparently the black coloration is common in northern British Columbia since about half the red fox that I saw there were this black color. In the Yukon I came across another color variation, with a grayish-brown mottled coloration. I wasn't able to get a good picture of that fox.
Sorry if this post got a bit long, but I got to typing and couldn't stop.
And no, I don't have any pictures of ducks which is supposed to be the topic of this thread.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
To heck with the ducks anyway..... that little fella is ridiculously cute!
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Richard, thanks for sharing your stories and pictures. It is nearly 1 am here and I was just going to bed. Your first picture shows the gas station before Kitwanga , intersection of HWY16 and HWY37. It is 95km from my place in Terrace. I go hiking up the Kitwanga mountain - my best hiking place so far. Tomorrow I will post some pictures and relate some of my stories. This fox is so, so cute!! I have taken pictures of foxes in our area but they look nothing like this one. Wonder if you took your picture a few hundred kilometers from here.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
The fox picture was getting near the north end of the Highway 37. It was quite a few days ride north of the highway intersection shown in the first picture.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
When you were in this area in 2014 I must have been sitting in an office in downtown Terrace. I remember the weather was nice; not like this year or last year. We were busy working for Chevron on a project that was put on hold in 2015 and was never finished.
There are many bears in our area and they are easily surprised on a bicycle. One time I nearly ran into one of them near Kamloops while descending the Paul Lake Road on a road bike. It is a steep road and when one is doing 60km/h or more coming to a stop takes a long time.
Probably my most unnerving experience was when I went to Algonquin park with a friend to do portaging and brook trout fishing on a secret lake. The first day we spent rowing across a big lake, then walking through some wild places to get to the shores of another wild lake. We rowed along this one for hours and then found a place to camp on its shore. Next day we were going to be portaging to the third lake - the one holding the large brook trout. We stashed our food high in the trees and then went to sleep. About an hour later I could hear the steps of a large animal near our tent, the animal was sniffing, then down came some of the cans we had placed in the tree nearby. It was then that I realized we had nothing on us, not even bear spay and crying for help would have been useless - we were deep into the wilderness. But the bear wasn't after us. The mosquitoes and black flies got us on this trip though.
Cougars I have not seen, but I was on the tracks of one in the winter. He was in front of me and apparently knew I was behind him. I could tell he came down from a tree and had made a few leaps. Interestingly when I turned around I had a coyote show up to investigate me and he came really close. No idea what the relation between the cougar and the coyote was, but it is possible there was a kill nearby.
In the past years I have had a small dog with me. He was supposed to be my daughter's dog but became mine. He is afraid of other dogs and cats, but he would go after every moose or black bear! Grizzlies, not so much. He senses them from miles away and gets terrified.
Last month I was fishing for trout on a local river where grizzlies hang around to feast on coho. I have seen them only once, but there are always signs of them. This time, my dog became really nervous when it was getting close to dusk and started whimpering. At one point he couldn't stand it any more and jumped in the fast water to reach me. I thought, OK, let's listen to him. So up the trail we went. There is a spot where we cross the river - I hold my dog in my hands when crossing. This time he nearly twisted his neck to look back at the shore behind us for whatever was following us. We never saw anything.
In the pictures above The arrow shows the Kitwanga gas station where your first picture is taken. The Kitwanga mountain is the snow covered peaks between the words "Alaska" and "Stewart" in the sign.
And the second picture shows one of our typical foxes - usually black or grey in color.
What is up with the 3 water bottles you have on the bike? I have never been on such epic bike tours , but do you ever run out of water with a single bottle?
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Cougar....
the phrase "large brook trout" makes me very jealous!!!! Here in NY, we still have native brookies, but they are relatively small, and uncommon compared to the browns and rainbows. It's a welcome surprise when these little jewels break the surface at the end of my line!
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Cougar,
Three water bottles is just the tip of the iceberg. I usually have many more bottles of something to drink stashed away in my panniers. May be water, but is usually orange juice or V8 juice - both are good sources for electrolytes, especially potassium.
At times I end up for a lot longer time away from any drinking sources that I had planned. On that trip in 2014, I spent the first night on that highway at the private Cassiar RV Campground just up from the highway intersection and just before the town of Kitwanga. My stop for the next night was a campsite described in The Milepost (https://themilepost.com/) as a nice site next to Bonus Lake with a pier (it's called Bonus Lake Recreation Site on Google Maps). It turned out being completely decrepit, the pier was non-existent, the lake was weedy with a muddy bottom (I looked at retrieving water that I could boil and then drink but gave up), and a couple who had just left in their motor home came back to tell me they had seen a black bear just up the road. So after already traveling 60 miles with that loaded bike, I took off hoping to find a more pleasant place to stay.
Now I had only planned on going 60 miles that day and then having a ready drinking water source, so did not carry extra with me. By the time I got to the no-go site, I was already out of water. At a rest stop several miles up the road and found a Mountie and asked him for help, but got none at the time. He came back later several miles up the road with a small bottle of water - boy was I grateful for that as it was hot and I was parched. But that didn't last long and soon I was not only parched but completely worn out.
By the time I hit the low 90s with my mileage, I was off the bike and walking (much easier to cause drivers to take pity and stop to ask if they can help). Two ladies in a pickup did and they loaded me up and hauled me about the 4-5 miles to Meziadin Lake Provincial Park. When I first got in their pickup, they offered me a bottled water and I downed it so quick that they gave me a couple more. The park offered me a great campsite and all the cool clean liquid I could hope to drink (and then some).
Many times that third bottle is replaced with a fuel bottle for my MSR Wisperlite camp stove. I find that too much road goop gets tossed up onto that bottle to make drinking from it palatable.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
" a campsite described in The Milepost (https://themilepost.com/) as a nice site next to Bonus Lake with a pier"
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
Your comments and listing of place names brings back a lot of memories. Spent the night at a private campground just north of Iskut. Spent two nights at a motel in Dease Lake.
Also camped one night at Bell II Lodge - couldn't afford the $200+ per night for a motel room. I did have a fantastic meal that night at their restaurant. But what I really remember about that site is the young (18-20 year old) New Zealander who also spent the night there camping and was also travelling by bicycle. He had bicycled all the way up to the Arctic Coast in Yukon Territory and was now heading back south again. They had a guest laundry and I used every chance I could get to wash my clothes. Since there was plenty of room in the washer, I offered him a chance to wash his stuff for free. Boy did he take advantage of that offer. He brought every stitch of clothing he had except for the underwear he had on; he said that they lodge staff were giving him dirty looks for wandering around the grounds just wearing his skivvies. And when I checked the washer after a few minutes, the water was nearly black; I had never seen such dirty washer water before. He must not have cleaned his clothes in forever.
I didn't find insects a problem. Mosquitoes I expected. I just didn't want to encounter a lot of biting flies and I did not.
That day I described in my previous post is the only time I ran into a problem on that trip with running out of water. The other 6000+ miles were not a problem for the most part.
While I didn't carry one on this trip, the next time I will have a small water filtration device with me also.
If I know I might not see civilization for two or three days, I pack enough liquids and food to last for at least three days. With a bit of prodigious use of those items, I can stretch it time-wise even a bit farther. For food I usually carry some candy bars, cheese, sausage, dried fruit, peanut butter and jam along with a loaf of bread or flour tortillas. I try to pack as calorie-dense of food as possible, so fatty stuff is preferred (therefore the sausage and/or cheese and peanut butter).
In years past I have set a Garmin computer up on my bicycle that would track my distance and elevation using satellites, with it being very accurate in doing so (it was built to be attached to the handlebar or handlebar stem, so is small and very light-weight). I took off one day about 15 years ago and was out pedaling all day on a ride of about 150 miles. The Garmin battery ran out of power before I got home, but before it died it had registered my calorie burn for the ride as being over 8,000 calories. I did an organized cross-country ride back in 2001 from Los Angeles to Boston over a time period of 32 days (one rest day in Topeka, Kansas, otherwise averaged about 110 miles a day for the other 31 days). The ride leader told us to not stop eating since we would average over 6,000 calories burned each day. I must be very good at eating since I actually gained some weight on that trip. They carried all our gear for us on that trip as well as put us up on motels each night; also had restaurant food for breakfast and dinner. For lunch and a couple of snack stops each day one of the support vehicles provided all the food at predetermined locations.
So if you want to loose weight, take up long-distance bicycling.
re: Duck Stamps - What am I missing in this picture?
You are lucky having time for such long bike rides. After we adopted a dog 6 years ago and it became mine, I have been on a bike only a few times, all of them , but one were on a mountain bike, either my son's, my wife's or my daughter's bikes. I used them while fishing along logging roads. It is so much better to ride, have the dog run along and enjoy the fresh air and scenery. This one other time happened in spring. I picked up my old road bike and just went up the neighboring hill, rode around town and made a small loop to come back - total distance 10km if that. Did I ever feel heavy, tired and irrelevant after that and my but was hurting too! I'm so out of shape and aging doesn't help much either.
The road bike I rode was bought in Inverurie, Scotland. I bought it in 1993 after being in the area for a few months; it is, of course, not comparable to the present day lightweight bikes, but it was a huge improvement back then to what I rode in Bulgaria. Paid 225 quid by memory for it back then and in all the kilometers I put on it , nothing ever broke. Maybe the chain is a little stretched now and needs servicing. In the early 90's I was able to ride 50km west of my town into a scarcely populated river valley, spend the day hiking and fishing and then ride back home. Another route I had would take me on a steep mountain climb for 20km South to a mountain pass; I would leave my bike there and descend into 2 river valleys to fish, then climb out of there and ride back to town. This last part, in this case, was the most fun of all. I didn't need to do much for over half an hour as it was 100% descent.
But now with having a job, things are not going anywhere. They say this is freedom....doesn't quite feel that way. But if I decide to quit, I may have a few months of enjoyment of life before going back into darkness.